Show speaking of sports lively vs dead ball Is riddle e of 1938 season by GEORGE A BARCLAY dij TID the national league A put itself out on a limb when it adopted the deader haal all for the 1938 season deaso n ta ale the american league ae ague voted to continue the lively one that question will come in for plenty of attention from now until the end of the world series next tober it has already had a good deal of newspaper space but no one is really certain there is a rad leal ical difference between the dead and so called lively ball government scientists have taken samples of each shot them out of catapult like machines and recorded their findings sluggers from both major leagues have tried their bats on both dead and lively balls the results are still a ques question tion mark L arld 0 ald series test aishe ahe real answer should be written in the world series if the national league wins the event and reverses the trend that has given it only three worlds championships in ax ys al ford frick the past ten years credit will be given to president ford frick for his owl like wisdom it the american league wins there cant be much said in the way ot of alibis and most people will then concede that it is the league and not the ball that is responsible some critics have insisted that in voting for a change last december the national league clubs had come to the conclusion that the ball the yankees were pounding was too dangerous to continue in use in fairness to mr frick it should be assumed that the national league was trying to improve the game ayou ou are a devotee ot of strategic dall there much argument about the ball being too lively strategic baseball the sacrifice base stealing moving the infield in to cut off a run at the plate the squeeze play etc been played seriously since babe ruth made the fans home run conscious some years ago in the american league particularly the game has been a hitters market teams play tor for the big inning and a rally that will win when a man gets on f first base he try to steal he waits tor for his mates to drive hi him in home with their bats and they usually do harridge doubts mr will Il harridge president ot of bencan league has some hon tt g about what happens when you begin tinkering with baseballs when you change the ball its hard to tell what results get he says for instance we had three experts appear at a meeting ot of the board ot of directors ot of the league to explain how they mient deaden the balf bair a trifle one said the only way to do it was to cut down the size of the cork center the second said it would have to be done 1 with the wool the yarn winding the third said the only way to get any change was to use a different cover if the experts who make the ball differ like that how could we know what the results of changing the ball would be its an expert ment and there wont be an answer until a full seasons trial has been made the colsen consensus sus of opinion among baseball men is that it if there i is any vast amount of difference between the dead and lively ball the former wont bother the players who have the eyes and the power to knock one over the wall A good hitter will i adjust ad just himself so that his batting average wont be damaged if the dead ball assists the pitchers la in improving their performances the only fellows who will really be butt are those who really arent first class batsmen batsman bats men the bargrain bargain home run is something that should not belting belong in major league baseball if the so called dead ball helps eliminate it at least one improvement pro can be recorded to its credit the difficulty in distinguishing the difference between the dead and lively ball was illustrated by what happened at the chicago cubs training camp this spring in the early days of the camp leftover left over palls balls of the 1937 vintage were us used ed first then the 1938 models were brought out somehow the two vintages became mixed AU all the players coaches and newspaper men went into a huddle but they tell one ball from the other either by sight or tou touch ch after a couple of days all the balls on the field had bad been used up then only 1938 balls were used the hitting subside but the te pitchers protected by the fact they bearing down felt they could get a better grip on the new ball baseball mi miracle 6 TAKE AXE it from joe cronin who is something of a baseball student and in this instance sits in a neutral corner the chicago white sox and the washington senators have actually accomplished a baseball miracle in their swap of d first basemen zeke bonura for joe kuhel they consummated a trade in which both sides win it might appear at first glance that clark griffith the old fox of the senators w had handed jim e my dykes of the sox a cold deck when he lured him into handing over P hitter for 1 5 zeke bonura ZI joe cronin al 1 fa one whose 1937 X average was only 4 but cronin son in law of grif nth and manager Z 11 of the boston red I 1 1 sox says n no 0 heres how he explains jimmy dykes it kuhel will bat better than for the sox he should drive in a lot of runs and be the best fielding belding first baseman seen around comiskey park for a decade heres why kuhel will escape from many of the left handed pitchers who have been handcuffing him at the plate he Is a left handed banded hitter bitter like five other washington regulars who has had to face as many southpaws as the opposition could muster with the white sox kuhel joins a team that has six right hand ed hitters so he will do most of 0 his hitting against right handed pitchers which should boom his batting average Bon uras case is exactly opposite zeke 1 a powerhouse powerhouse right hander will be among a flock ot of left handed hitters with washington hell go to bat frequently against southpaw pitchers which should help him too all ali things considered its one ot of the smartest inside baseball deals in years tee and fairway RANCIS OUIMET veteran captain of the united states walker cup team is borri ed lest the mern bers who will make the british trip wont be in form he fears that because the team sails so early a burn nurn ber of the players idle during the winter months wont b e at peak Z ak francis ouimet form when they land at st andrews scotland he taking any chances on too long a sea sea voyage my to take the edge off instead ot of taking a slow boat to glasgow and spending ten to twelve days on the sea the players have booked passage on a four day boat on may al 11 the players will be in the british isles about three weeks competing in im i the british amateur at troon on may 23 going from there to st andrews and catching the boat home on june 8 katherine hepburn is the proud owner of several golf trophies olympic problems U I 1 SAMS monopoly of lead enship in the track and field events of the olympic games seems definitely menaced so far as the 1940 olympiad is concerned by booking the games in far off japan and on dates when our best athletes will be unable to compete the rest of the world has found a way to beat us not since the games were revived many years ago has the united states been defeated in track and field sections but by scheduling such events in october when college athletes obviously should be attending classes the olympic managing committee is in effect offering the track and field championships to some other country the united states has two alternatives first not to send a team to the 1940 olympics second to induce the universities of this country to release star athletes long enough tor for them to compete in japan and let them make up their lost studies later since britain and several other countries have stated they will not send teams to japan the first alternative would be relatively easy bulf fulfillment willment of the second would be tougher academic schedules are sacred cows in american universities they could not easily be disturbed in order to head germany italy and japan off from winning track and field events moreover many of the crack college lege athletes are wanted for toot foot ball service by coaches A few years back the complications of the present olympic schedule would not have embarrassed uncle sam at all lie he could still have left his college athletes home a and n d won the track and field events h handily andily that is no longer true 0 western newspaper union |